James Ravilious

James Ravilious (22 August 1939 – 29 September 1999), was a British photographer, who specialised in recording the rural life of north Devon.

[1] Having studied as an accountant, Ravilious made a career change and entered St Martin's School of Art in London, under the assumed name of Souryer in 1959.

Inspired by an exhibition of the work of French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ravilious took up photography shortly after moving with his wife to Devon in the 1970s.

He was asked to contribute work to the Beaford Archive, a means of documenting images to show the lifestyle associated with a small area of North Devon.

Ravilious made some 80,000 black and white images for Beaford Arts, and preserved some 5,000 old photographs of the area.